Korva is a scroll of the internet’s best ideas.
The information age pulls civilizations apart
What Industry Demanded
Big manufacturing plants, trains, highways, and airports demand certain institutional and organizational choices. Those requirements tended to force societies toward what looks like a European, Western way of life and politics.
Civilizations Diverge
Information technology removes that pressure. Turkey is more Turkish and less like Europe than it was twenty-five years ago. India is becoming more Indian, and Japan is becoming more Japanese.
The MTV Example
MTV shows how it works. When it first reached Latin America it ran American rock videos, and many predicted the end of indigenous Latin culture. Before long few American videos were on at all, because local artists could cheaply make their own music and videos that spoke to local sensibilities. Instead of sitting on mainline global programming, people are much freer to go off into their own civilization.
Why did factories push societies toward similar institutions?
Factories need workers who can read, follow written rules, and keep to a schedule, so industrial societies built mass schooling and large bureaucracies. Sociologist Ernest Gellner argued in his 1983 book Nations and Nationalism that industrial economies require a standardized language and common education, which pushes states toward similar structures. Railways and telegraphs added pressure for standard time and uniform legal rules across a country. Britain adopted a single railway time in 1847 for just that reason.
How did MTV go local?
MTV launched in the United States in 1981 and expanded abroad through the 1980s and 1990s, at first airing largely the same music videos everywhere. It launched MTV Latin America in 1993 and MTV India in 1996, and in time built separate channels with local-language shows and local artists. The company found that audiences in each region responded most to music from their own countries. By the 2000s MTV ran dozens of regional channels around the world.
Why does cheap media favor local culture?
Once recording and video equipment became cheap, a small market became profitable to serve. Wired editor Chris Anderson described the effect in a 2004 article called The Long Tail, arguing that online distribution makes niche audiences worth reaching. Artists in smaller languages could reach listeners directly rather than waiting for a major label to sign them. Streaming platforms now carry music in hundreds of languages.
More from Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy
